Slovenia plans to build island to boost tourism

LJUBLJANA, Oct 20 (Reuters) Slovenia, which controls some 30 miles of the Adriatic coastline, plans to build an artificial island by 2020 to attract more tourists, the economy ministry said.

''The building is expected to take place between 2013 and 2020, while the total cost is estimated at 100 million euros (125.7 million dollar),'' the ministry's spokeswoman Patricija Sasek told Reuters yesterday.

The island will have some 30,000 square metres, roughly the size of a large shopping mall, and would offer beaches, bars, restaurants, a wellness centre and a marina. It will be built with gravel left over after building a nearby road tunnel.

Sasek said the government plans to foot 30 per cent of the bill while the rest will be covered by the European Union funds and private investors. Slovenia joined the EU in 2004.

Slovenia's only island - a small but picturesque patch of land with a church on top of it - is on the Bled lake in a popular mountain resort in the northwest of the country.

Tourism accounts for about 5.5 per cent of Slovenia's gross domestic product (GDP) but the government hopes to boost this figure to 10 percent by 2011.

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